Method and system for providing caller information

ABSTRACT

Methods and systems of providing caller information are provided. Exemplary systems and methods provide location information for audio files including the caller information. The location information can be used to retrieve the audio information, which can be played on a call recipient&#39;s device, and/or a translation of the audio information, which can be displayed on the call recipient&#39;s device.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of, and claims priority to, U.S.patent application Ser. No. 15/040,756, filed Feb. 10, 2016, andentitled “Method and System for Providing Caller Information,” thecontents of which is incorporated herein by reference.

FIELD

This invention relates generally to communication systems, and moreparticularly to a method and system of providing caller information.

BACKGROUND

Caller identification information allows a call recipient to view callerinformation. The recipient can view the caller identificationinformation and decide, for example, whether to answer a call, or not,based on the caller identification information.

Typically, caller identification information includes a number of thecaller and a name of the caller. Caller identification information canbe provided by a call routing engine—e.g., based on account provisioninginformation. Additionally or alternatively, in some cases, a user(caller) can provide their caller identification information. In thesecases, a user can enter a name to be displayed on call recipients'devices.

When a language used by a caller differs from a language used by a callrecipient, particularly when an alphabet used by the caller's device or,e.g., the caller's routing engine or the like, differs from an alphabetused by the recipient's device, the caller identification informationmay not be displayed in a manner that is discernible to the callrecipient. The caller identification information may not properlydisplay on the recipient's device and/or may be displayed usingcharacters that are not familiar to the call recipient. As a result, therecipient may not be able to identify the caller and/or determine acontext of a call.

Some systems may allow a user (recipient) to store information, such asa caller's name, associated with a phone number on a user's device.However, such systems cannot provide caller identification informationfor callers not associated with information already stored on theuser/recipient device, and such systems require input by the recipient.Other systems do not allow a user/recipient to modify calleridentification information. Accordingly, improved systems and methodsthat allow a recipient to identify a caller are desired.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIGURES

Subject matter of the present disclosure is particularly pointed out anddistinctly claimed in the concluding portion of the specification. Amore complete understanding of the present disclosure, however, may bestbe obtained by referring to the detailed description and claims whenconsidered in connection with the drawing figures.

FIG. 1 illustrates a communication system in accordance with exemplaryembodiments of the disclosure.

FIG. 2 illustrates a communication method in accordance with exemplaryembodiments of the disclosure.

FIG. 3 illustrates another communication method in accordance withfurther exemplary embodiments of the disclosure.

It will be appreciated that elements in the figures are illustrated forsimplicity and clarity and have not necessarily been drawn to scale. Forexample, the dimensions of some of the elements in the figures may beexaggerated relative to other elements to help to improve understandingof illustrated embodiments of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The description of various embodiments of the present disclosureprovided below is merely exemplary and is intended for purposes ofillustration only; the following description is not intended to limitthe scope of an invention disclosed herein. Moreover, recitation ofmultiple embodiments having stated features is not intended to excludeother embodiments having additional features or other embodimentsincorporating different combinations of the stated features.

Exemplary embodiments of the disclosure are described herein in terms ofvarious functional components and various steps. It should beappreciated that such functional components may be realized by anynumber of hardware or structural components configured to perform thespecified functions. Further, it should be noted that while variouscomponents may be suitably coupled or connected to other componentswithin exemplary systems, such connections and couplings can be realizedby direct connection between components, or by connection through othercomponents and devices located therebetween. Similarly, unless otherwisenoted, illustrative methods can include additional steps and/or stepsthat are performed in a different order.

Exemplary systems and methods are described below in connection withvoice-over-Internet protocols (VoIP), and in some cases with sessioninitial protocol (SIP). However, unless otherwise noted, the disclosureis not limited to such examples.

In accordance with various embodiments of the disclosure, improvedmethods and systems for providing caller information on a callrecipient's device are disclosed. As discussed in more detail below,exemplary methods and systems can be used to provide audio informationand/or translated (literally or phonetically) caller information to acall recipient's device. In accordance with illustrate examples, thetext can be displayed using the language and alphabet of the callrecipient's device—even if the language and/or alphabet used by acaller's device differs from the language and/or alphabet used by arecipient's device.

Exemplary methods of providing caller information include initiating acall between a first device and a second device, providing file locationinformation corresponding to audio information during a call setupbetween the first device and the second device, using the file locationinformation, retrieving the audio information, and performing one ormore of playing the audio information and displaying information on thesecond device. The file location can be, for example, on the firstdevice or on a server. The audio information can be pre-recorded, using,e.g., the first device. The audio information can then be stored on, forexample, the first device or a server. The audio information can betranslated into text, such that the text is displayed on the seconddevice using the alphabet used on the second device, which may bedifferent from the alphabet used on the first device. Thus, a caller'sname and/or other information can be displayed using the recipient'sdevice alphabet, even if the recipient's device alphabet differs fromthe caller device's alphabet.

In accordance with yet further embodiments of the disclosure, methods ofproviding caller information include initiating a call between a firstdevice and a second device, providing file location informationcorresponding to audio information recorded in a first language usingthe first device, translating the audio information to a secondlanguage, and providing translated information in the second language onthe second device. The translated information can include text that istranscribed literally and/or phonetically. The file location informationcan include a URL address for the audio information. The URL informationcan correspond to the first device, to a server, or the like.

In accordance with yet additional exemplary embodiments of thedisclosure, a system for providing caller information includes acommunication network, a first device connected to the communicationnetwork, and a second device coupled to the communication network,wherein file location information regarding audio information isprovided to the second device during a call setup between the firstdevice and the second device, and wherein the second device performs oneor more of displaying translated text corresponding to the audioinformation and playing the audio information. The system canadditionally include a server or the like to store the audioinformation. Additionally or alternatively, the system can include aserver to translate and/or transcribe audio information in a firstlanguage to text information (or an image including text) in a secondlanguage.

In accordance with further aspects, a computer readable medium havingcomputer readable code embodied therein for controlling a device toperform the steps of providing caller information includes initiating acall between a first device and a second device, providing file locationinformation corresponding to audio information during a call setupbetween the first device and the second device, using the file locationinformation, retrieving the audio information, and performing one ormore of playing the audio information and displaying information on thesecond device is provided. In accordance with other aspects, a computerreadable medium having computer readable code embodied therein forcontrolling a device to perform the steps of initiating a call between afirst device and a second device, providing file location informationcorresponding to audio information recorded in a first language,translating the audio information to a second language, and providingtranslated information in the second language on the second device isprovided.

In accordance with various aspects of the exemplary embodimentsdescribed herein, the caller identification information can be providedas contextual information or as part of contextual information to auser's device, such that the contextual information can be provided(e.g., in text, image, or audio format) along with other calleridentification information.

Turning to FIG. 1, a system 100 for providing caller information isillustrated. System 100 includes a first user device 102, a second userdevice 104, and network 110. System 100 can also optionally include oneor more servers 106, 108. Although illustrated with two devices 102,104, one network 110, and two servers 106, 108, it will be appreciatedthat systems in accordance with this disclosure can include any suitablenumber of devices, networks, servers, and/or other network devices.

Devices 102, 104 can include any suitable device with wired and/orwireless communication features. For example, user devices 102, 104 caninclude a wearable device, a tablet computer, a smart phone, a personal(e.g., laptop or desktop) computer, a streaming device, such as a gameconsole or other media streaming device, such as Roku, Amazon Fire TV,or the like, a mobile station, a subscriber station, a mobile unit, asubscriber unit, a wireless unit, a mobile device, a wireless device, awireless communication device, an access terminal, a mobile terminal, ahandset, a user agent, or other suitable device.

In accordance with various embodiments of the disclosure, one or more ofdevices 102, 104 include a client to, for example, perform variousfunctions or steps as described herein. As used herein, client can referto a downloadable OTT application, a native phone application, a softphone or a browser-based client. The client can, for example, presentcaller information that has been, for example, transcribed andtranslated—e.g., from one language using a first alphabet to a secondlanguage using a second alphabet. Additionally or alternatively, theclient can allow a user to record caller information, such as thecaller's name and/or play audio information (e.g., the caller's recordedname) upon a call setup (e.g., in addition to or in lieu of a callring). In accordance with further exemplary embodiments, the client cantranslate caller information—e.g., during a call setup. Exemplaryclients can allow a user to select a preferred language and/or alphabetfor display of caller information received, for example, during a callsetup. The client can also provide a suitable graphical user interface(GUI) that can allow playing the audio information (on demand orautomatically) and/or displaying the text associated with the callerinformation. Additional exemplary client functions are described below.

Servers 106, 108 can be any suitable device capable of receivinginformation from one or more of devices 102, 104, storing theinformation, and allowing access to the information from one or more ofdevices 102, 104 and/or other devices and/or transmitting theinformation to one or more devices. By way of particular examples,servers 106, 108 can be stand-alone servers, private branch exchange(PBX) servers, unified communications servers, part of a cloud service,or the like.

In accordance with exemplary embodiments of the disclosure, server 106is configured to store audio information that corresponds to callerinformation (e.g., caller identification information). By way ofexample, server 106 can store recordings (e.g., in a user's/caller'svoice) that can then be transmitted to a call recipient's device—e.g.,during a call setup. Alternatively, as discussed in more detail below,such audio information can be stored on the caller's device.

In accordance with further illustrated examples, server 108 isconfigured to transcribe audio information into text. The translatedtext can be in a language and using an alphabet of the call recipient'sdevice. As noted above, the translation and transcription of audioinformation can be literal or phonetic. Although illustrated separately,servers 106, 108 can form part of another system and/or the functions ofservers 106/108 can be performed by a single server.

Network 110 can include or be a local area network (LAN), a wide areanetwork, a personal area network, a campus area network, a metropolitanarea network, a global area network, or the like. Network 110 can becoupled to other networks, such as a private branch exchange (PBX)network, to other devices typically coupled to a network, and/or to theInternet.

FIG. 2 illustrates a method 200 in accordance with exemplary embodimentsof the disclosure. Method 200 includes the steps of initiating a call(step 202), providing file location information for audio information(step 204), retrieving the audio information (step 206), and playingaudio information and/or displaying information (step 206).

Step 202 includes initiating a call (e.g., a telephone call, a videocall, or a collaboration call) between two or more devices. By way ofexample, step 202 can include initiating a VoIP call, such as a SIPcall.

In accordance with some examples of the disclosure, prior to or at thebeginning of step 202, a user (the caller) can use a device (e.g., use aclient on the caller's device or another device) to audio record callerinformation, such as a caller's name, caller's company, informationabout what the call is about, context information, other callerinformation, and the like. Examples of how to generate context-awareinformation are disclosed in U.S. application Ser. No. 15/009,187,entitled METHOD AND SYSTEM OF PROVIDING CONTEXT AWARE ANNOUNCEMENTS, andfiled Jan. 28, 2016, the contents of which are hereby incorporatedherein by reference—to the extent such contents do not conflict with thepresent disclosure. The audio information can be stored on the caller'sdevice or elsewhere, such as on server 106. The audio recording can be aone-time or limited-time setup, wherein the caller information isstored. Additionally or alternatively, caller information can berecorded when a call is made. For example, a caller's name may need tobe recorded only once or periodically and caller information couldinclude the recorded name alone or with additional information that ismade, for example, on a per-call basis. Alternatively, a caller coulduse a client to record caller information when it is thought that theremight be a translation issue, and not use such service if a translationissue is not expected.

The audio information can be stored as an uncompressed (e.g., .wav) fileor a compressed (e.g., MPEG-4, or MP3) file or any other suitable fileformat. The audio information can be recorded by the caller and/orprovided by an operator. The information can be recorded and stored inone or more languages. When the information is stored on a remotedevice, such as a server, the information can be stored along with thecorresponding directory number.

During step 204, file location information (e.g., an IP or URL address)corresponding to caller information is provided to a recipient's device.In accordance with various examples of the disclosure, the file locationinformation is provided as part of a call setup. For example, the filelocation information can be provided as part of a SIP header. Thelocation information can include a location of a server, such as server106, a location of the caller's device, or another location of asuitable server or device.

A second device (e.g., device 104) can retrieve the audio informationduring step 206—e.g., using file location information that istransmitted to recipient's device during a call setup. As noted above,the file location can be the caller's device, a server, or anotherdevice. When the audio file is on the caller's device, the audioinformation can directly stream from the caller's device to therecipient's device—e.g., using SIP. Alternatively, the audio file can betransmitted as part of a call setup. Although separately illustrated,steps 202-206 can be part of a call setup process.

A call recipient can play the audio file—e.g., using a client, can havedisplayed text or an image corresponding to the caller information(e.g., translated text and/or non-translated text corresponding to theaudio information), or both during step 208. In accordance with someembodiments of the disclosure, the recipient's device can performtranslation of the audio file into a language used by the recipient'sdevice. In accordance with other examples, the translation can occurelsewhere, such as on a server (e.g., server 108).

FIG. 3 illustrates another method 300 of providing caller information inaccordance with further examples of the disclosure. Method 300 includesthe steps of initiating a call between two or more devices (step 302),providing file location information for audio information that includescaller information (step 304), translating the audio information from afirst language to a second language (step 306), and providing (e.g.,displaying) the translated information on a recipient's device (step308).

Steps 302 and 304 can be the same or similar to steps 202 and 204,described above. Step 306 includes translating the audio information.The translation and/or transcription can be performed by, e.g., arecipient's device and/or elsewhere, such as a server—e.g., server 108.

Once the audio information is translated and transcribed, thetranslated/transcribed information can be displayed, during step 308, ona recipient's device. The information that is displayed can includecaller identification (e.g., name, company, or the like) information.The information can be displayed as part of a call setup.

The methods and systems have been described above with reference to anumber of exemplary embodiments and examples. It should be appreciatedthat the particular embodiments shown and described herein areillustrative of the invention and its best mode and are not intended tolimit in any way the scope of the invention as set forth in the claims.It will be recognized that changes and modifications may be made to theexemplary embodiments without departing from the scope of the presentinvention. These and other changes or modifications are intended to beincluded within the scope of the present invention, as expressed in thefollowing claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of providing caller information, themethod comprising the steps of: initiating a voice-over-Internet (VoIP)call between a first device and a second device; during a call setup ofthe VoIP call, providing file location information corresponding toaudio caller identification information recorded in a first languageusing the first device; using the file location information to retrievethe audio caller information; transcribing the audio calleridentification information to transcribed information in a secondlanguage; and providing the transcribed information as an imageincluding text in the second language to the second device during a callsetup of the VoIP call.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the step ofproviding the transcribed information comprises a step of phoneticallytranscribing the audio information into text in the second language. 3.The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of displaying text ofthe transcribed audio caller information in the second language.
 4. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising a step of storing the audio calleridentification information on a server.
 5. The method of claim 1,further comprising a step of storing the audio caller identificationinformation on the first device.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein thefile location information is provided to the second device during aSession Initiation Protocol call setup.
 7. The method of claim 1,wherein the step of providing the file location information comprisesproviding a URL address for the audio caller identification information.8. The method of claim 1, wherein the image including text includes textusing a second alphabet, the second alphabet different from an alphabetof the first language.
 9. The method of claim 1, wherein the calleridentification information is provided as contextual information or aspart of contextual information.
 10. The method of claim 9, wherein thecontextual information is provided as an image.
 11. A system forproviding caller information, the system comprising: a communicationnetwork; a first device connected to the communication network; and asecond device comprising a client coupled to the communication network;wherein file location information corresponding to caller identificationinformation is provided to the second device during a call setup of avoice-over-Internet (VoIP) call between the first device and the seconddevice, the caller identification information comprising audio calleridentification information; and wherein the second device is configuredto utilize the file location information to retrieve the audio callerinformation and displays transcribed text of the audio callerinformation in a second language that has been translated from the firstlanguage and corresponding to the audio caller identificationinformation, the transcribed text provided as an image file includingtext during the call setup.
 12. The system of claim 11, furthercomprising a server, wherein the server stores the audio calleridentification information.
 13. The system of claim 11, furthercomprising a server, wherein the server transcribes the audio calleridentification information from the first language to text in the secondlanguage.
 14. A system for providing caller information, the systemcomprising: a communication network; a first device connected to thecommunication network; and a second device comprising a client coupledto the communication network, the system configured to: initiate avoice-over-Internet (VoIP) call between the first device and the seconddevice; during a call setup, provide file location informationcorresponding to audio caller identification information recorded in afirst language using the first device, wherein the second device isconfigured to utilize the file location information to retrieve theaudio caller information and; transcribe the audio caller identificationinformation to transcribed information in a second language; and providethe transcribed information as an image including text in the secondlanguage to the second device during a call setup of the VoIP callduring the call setup.
 15. The system of claim 14, wherein providing thetranscribed information comprises a step of phonetically transcribingthe audio information into text in the second language.
 16. The systemof claim 14, the system further configured to display text of thetranscribed audio caller information in the second language on thesecond device.
 17. The system of claim 14, the system further configuredto store the audio caller identification information on a server. 18.The system of claim 14, the system further configured to store the audiocaller identification information on the first device.
 19. The system ofclaim 14, wherein the file location information is provided to thesecond device during a Session Initiation Protocol call setup.
 20. Thesystem of claim 14, wherein providing the file location informationcomprises providing a URL address for the audio caller identificationinformation.